Insect pests cause crop damage worldwide resulting in significant losses to food and fiber crops and increased production costs that target control of such pests. For example, the Heliothine complex of lepidopteran moths cause in excess of 2 B dollars in damage and cost of control in the United States annually. While all crops are susceptible to similar pest pressure, transgenic expression of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) toxins was developed to control the lepidopteran pests and has become a major tool for control of these and other insect pests. Since the commercial introduction of Bt crops in 1996, they have been adopted around the world and have been grown on more than one billion acres worldwide. In the US, 81% of corn and 84% of cotton express one or more Bt toxins. (http://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/adoption-of-genetically-engineered -crops-in-the-us/recent-trends-in-ge-adoption.aspx, 2015 report.) Unfortunately, due to the remarkable ability of insects to adapt to insecticides, resistance to Bt toxins was predicted and reports of field-evolved resistance and reduced efficacy are increasing. Such resistance is a threat to the sustainability of important Bt crops, in the US and elsewhere. Thus, there is a continuing need to develop new methods to control insect pests. For example, Helicoverpa zea (H. zea, commonly known as the corn earworm), is a major polyphagous moth pest in the Heliothine complex in the United States and causes millions of dollars of damage to corn and cotton plants each year.
A number of pests in the Heliothine complex of moths, notably H. zea H. armigera and Heliothis virescens are highly polyphagous and cause economically significant damage to many crops. Crops commonly damaged by H. zea include cotton, corn, soybean, sunflowers, tomato, sorghum, strawberry, peppers, beans, aubergine, okra, peas, millet, cucumber, melon, lettuce, cauliflower, and cabbage. Because H. zea attacks a wide variety of plants and, in many instances, is developing resistance to Bt crops, farmers rely heavily on pesticides to control this pest insect.
The need for pest management, such as in field, fruit and vegetable crops, is a need in the art, which will only become more critical as resistance to Bt expands. Further, there is a need for pest management that does not involve the use of conventional pesticides or transgenic technologies such as in organic cropping systems. The instant invention addresses one or more aforementioned needs in the art.